Receiver for machine guns



W. T. GORTON RECEIVER FOR MACHINE GUNS sepa. 23 1924.

Filled July l2 1922 u u i Hr .1w-m: L u ...H nu WH ...1. y l.. L 7 5 u MILWW 0 1 m L :NVE/hole Wa liver T60/lolz A TTORNEY Patented Sept. 23, 1924.

STATES WALTER T. GORTON, OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY.

RECEIVER FOR MACHINE GUNS.

Application filed July 12, 1922. Serial No. 574,556.

(FILED UNDER THE ACT 0F MARCH 3, 1883, 22 STAT. Il., 625.)

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, VALTER T. GoRToN, captain, Ordnance Department, United States Army, a citizen of the United States, stationed at Springfield Armory, Springfield, Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Receivers for Machine Guns, of which the following is a specification.

The invention described herein may be used by the Government, or any of its officers or employees in prosecution of work for the Government, or by any other person in the United States, without payrnen'l to me of any royalty thereon, in accordance with the act of March 3, 1883.

The Subj ect of this invention is a receiver for machine guns.

In the present design of the Browning machine guns, the bottom plate of the receiver is a flat member assembled between the side plates by means of a dove-tail construction, grooves for which are located near the lower edge of the interior of the side plates. The edges of the bottom plate are formed into tongues which are clamped in these grooves in the side plates by a rolling operation performed on the under edges of the side plates.

This construction has been found to be weak, particularly so at the forward end of the bottom plate, where failure has frequently occurred due to the strain set-up by the breech mechanism of the gun. Several forms of riveted sections for assembling the side and 4bottom plates have been proposed ibut these all include a bottom plate of inverted channel section with the side plates correspondingly widened to provide for riveting. These designs have the disadvantages of requiring considerably more material, increasing weight and increasing the size of the receiver of the gun. In addition to this it is necessary to provide tongues and grooves for properly positioning the plates with respect to each other, and for manufacturing reasons these grooves must necessarily be made in the side plates. This means that the plates are weakened corresponding to the depth of the grooves, and hence the strength of the section is limited by that of the plates rather than that of the riveted joint.

The obj ect sought in the improvement under consideration is the provision of a riveted assembly of maximum strength and particularly to avoid weakening the side plates by grooves which prevent the full strength of the rivet joint being utilized.

This object is accomplished specifically by means of a bottom plate of upright U- section which is assembled so as: to embrace the lower edges of the two side plates. A groove is cut in the exterior surface of each side plate near its lower edge, and these grooves are engaged by corresponding tongues formed on the interior of the upright portions of the bottom plate. The rivets which hold the joints securely together are located above these tongues and grooves. This construction provides for a very rigid support o-f the side plates and permits of conveniently forming two lugs on the lower side of the bottom plate to act as the elevating Ibracket for the rear mounting pin.

lith these and other objects in view my invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the sco-pe of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment o-f the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a receiver constructed in accordance with the invention, the cover and top plate of the receiver being removed;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same and Fig. 3 is an end elevation, partly in section.

Referring to the drawing by numerals of reference Side plates 10 have longitudinal grooves 11 formed in theirouter faces near the lower edges thereof. The bottom plate 12 is of channel formation and embraces the side plates and has upon the' inner surface of its 11p-standing ribs tongues l?)I which engage in the grooves 11. The Lip-standing ribs are apertured above the tonguesl 13 for the reception of rivets 14 by which the side plates are securely fastened to the bottom plate and, because of the location of such rivets, the strength of the joint lbetween the bottom plate and side plate will be that of the riveted connection and Will not be af- Jfected by the groove 1l cut in side plate.

I Claim:

l. A receiver for machine guns, including,` side plates, each formed with a longitudinal groove in its outer face near its lower edge, a bottom plate of channel formation embracing the. eide plates, each upstanding member of the bottom plate having a longitudinal rib on ite innerI surface adapted to enter the groove in the side plate and a riveted joint between each tip-'Standing` member of the bottom plate and a side plate, said joint located above the tongue and groove connection.

2. A receiver for machine guns, ineluding side plates each formed With a` longitudinal groove near its lower edge, a bottom plate of channel formation, each tlange of the bottom pla-te having a longitudinal rib adapted to enter the groove in a side plate and a riveted joint between each flange of the bottom plate and a side plate, said joint located above the tongue and groove eonneetion.

TAL/TER T. GORTON. 

